History

Below is a historical overview, from 1881 to the present, of McCaw Hall.

1881: Saloon owner James Osborne donates part of his estate to the City of Seattle for a “Civic Auditorium.” At the time, the amount equaled the entire budget of the City of Seattle.

1886: David T. Denny and Louisa Boren Denny donate land, the current site of McCaw Hall, to the City of Seattle for “public use forever.”

1927: Seattle citizens pass a $900,000 bond issue to complement the money from the James Osborne estate and the Denny gift of land in order to build the Civic Auditorium.

May 18, 1928: The new Civic Auditorium is dedicated, in part, by Seattle’s only female Mayor, Bertha K. Landes. The Civic Center also includes Ice Arena (now Mercer Arts Arena) and Civic Field (now Memorial Stadium).

1930’s: Patrons begin attending symphony concerts.

1940’s: San Francisco Opera, Marian Anderson, Danny Kaye, Arthur Rubinstein and many others make local appearances in the Auditorium.

1956: Civic Center bond issue is proposed to upgrade the Civic Auditorium into a performance space for the 1962 World’s Fair. The bond passes and the Civic Auditorium receives $2.75 million for improvements to the exterior and public areas. No improvements are made to the mechanical, technical and backstage areas.

1959: Construction begins to transform the aging Civic Auditorium into a 3,100-seat Opera House in preparation for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.

December 2, 2005: The 1 millionth visitor passed through the hall during PNB’s Nutcracker.

December 2006: 1,000th event is held at McCaw Hall.

February 9, 2007: The Seattle International Film Festival Group (SIFF) opens its year-round programming venue, SIFF Cinema, in our Nesholm Family Lecture Hall. Crossing Borders is the first film shown.

June 28, 2008: At our 5th year anniversary-mark, over 2 million guests have walked through our doors and 2,539 events have been held.

2011: SIFF announces that it is re-opening the Uptown Theater in Queen Anne as a new venue for SIFF Cinema and will close its inaugural SIFF Cinema venue in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall.

October 16, 2011: SIFF’s last screening, El ambulante, is held in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall.